Processing again

I’ve gotten back into Processing for yet another attempt at creating an out-of-game EVE Online map. So far so good.

Sort of working!

I’ve ended up creating a custom database to run the app off based on the Empyrean Age 1.1 data export from EVE, and that’s hooked into Processing using the MySQL library. The systems (and jumps, now) get loaded into the sketch on load, and are stored in two arrays as classes. As a first Java project it’s interesting to note the differences between Ruby, PHP and Java. I think I’m going to look at Processing on Ruby soon.

Hopefully this will run smoothly enough to get some data hooked in with XML feeds off EVE Metrics to provide a nice way to visualise things outside the browser. OpenGL is a bit iffy when used in the browser with Java, but I’m not really that fussed about making this a part of the site, more of a cool tool if you want to tinker. I’ll throw it all up on Github once it’s gotten halfway decent.

It’s made me wonder, though- is there anything akin to Processing out there that isn’t Java? I’d be really interested to see anything either C-based or Ruby-based that goes for more of the ‘visual programming’ angle rather than the more generic frameworks that tend to flourish these days.

So very tired, but tomorrow brings rest, a fresh Stargate Atlantis episode, and the potential for loads of lounging about for a week of holiday. Bliss.